


Backrubs

by adrianicsea



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: M/M, good ally mac, trans!charlie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 07:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7835290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrianicsea/pseuds/adrianicsea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mac is just trying to get some sleep, but Charlie's thrashing is keeping him awake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Backrubs

Charlie wasn’t a peaceful sleeper at the best of times, but tonight he seemed completely incapable of doing anything but rolling and thrashing around under the blankets. Mac had tried to ignore it and fall asleep anyway for the past few hours, but it was getting ridiculous. Finally, he sat up and lightly shoved at Charlie.

“Dude, what’s wrong? You’re driving me nuts!”

Charlie groaned in reply and rolled onto his back, wincing as he looked up at Mac.

“Hey, I can’t help it! I’m too fucking sore, I can’t get comfy.”

Mac frowned, eyebrows creeping up into a V of concern, as he thought back to all of the vent repairs Charlie had done in the bar that day. No wonder the kid was so sore; Mac would be too after all those hours of crawling around the air ducts. His expression softening, Mac reached out and placed a gentle hand on Charlie’s shoulder. Charlie seemed to settle down somewhat at the touch.

“Okay, Charlie, where’s it hurt?”

Charlie shrugged, wincing again.

“I– ah! – my back, mostly.”

Mac nodded and carefully nudged Charlie onto his side.

“Mac, really, I’m fine,” Charlie grumbled, but he finished rolling over onto his stomach without protest. Mac just nodded again in reply and slid out from under the blankets, moving to carefully straddle Charlie’s waist.

“I’m gonna rub your back for you, okay, buddy?” Mac asked. Charlie muttered some more, but nodded his head in agreement.

“Is it okay if I take your shirt off?”

Where the first question was a formality, this one was a necessity. Charlie didn’t particularly like taking his shirt off (not that Mac blamed him), even– and especially –in small, intimate situations like this. Sure enough, Charlie tensed up and hesitated before nodding again.

“Okay, buddy, let’s get you out of that thing.”

Charlie propped himself up on his elbows, raising his body enough for Mac to take the hem of his shirt and wriggle it up over Charlie’s head. Mac scooted back on Charlie’s back, giving him the freedom to sit up and quickly jerk the shirt the rest of the way off his body. That done, Charlie snapped back into his lying position.

Almost immediately, Mac identified the problem: Charlie was still wearing his binder.

“Charlie…” Mac sucked in his breath quietly, chewing on his bottom lip. “We’ve talked about this.”

Charlie was tense beneath Mac again, hands balled into fists at his sides. When he didn’t reply, Mac continued.

“I know you don’t like taking it off, but you can’t sleep in it. It’ll hurt your chest, and your ribs, and your back, and you won’t be able to breathe–”

“I don’t care!”

Mac was so taken aback at Charlie’s sudden outburst that he immediately slid off of Charlie’s waist.

“I don’t care,” Charlie repeated, softer, mostly to himself. Then he turned his head to glare at Mac.

“All you said was that I couldn’t use duct tape anymore. You said it wouldn’t hurt anymore if I wore this!”

The urge to yell rose within Mac, but he fought it down, knowing that it would only escalate and make things worse. Instead, he kept his voice soft and slow as he tried to explain.

“Yes, Charlie, the binder is much better for you than the duct tape, okay? But that doesn’t mean you can wear it all the time. You have to take it off sometimes, alright? Or you’ll just get even more sore.”

Charlie maintained his defiant glare for a long moment, while Mac looked back at him with a carefully blank expression. Finally, Charlie sighed, some of the tension leaving his body.

“…Fine,” he mumbled. “I’ll take it off.”

Mac nodded in quiet approval, then turned away to accommodate Charlie. Closing his eyes for good measure, Mac listened to the rustling of the sheets as Charlie sat up, followed by Charlie’s small grunts of effort as he tried to wriggle out of the binder. Mac smiled a little at that– Charlie wasn’t used to it yet, so it took some doing for him to get it on and off. It frustrated Charlie to no end, but Mac felt much better knowing that Charlie wasn’t crushing his ribcage with layers of duct tape anymore.

Another rustle of fabric came then, and Charlie muttered, “Okay, you can turn around now.”

Mac opened his eyes and turned to find Charlie in the same position on his stomach, only now with his binder removed. He was still staring at Mac, though the anger in his eyes was mixed with discomfort and vulnerability now. Mac slowly inched closer, careful not to do anything that might scare Charlie.

“There, doesn’t that feel better?” Mac asked. Charlie shrugged and took a breath– a much deeper breath than he’d been taking before, Mac noticed.

“I guess it does feel a little better,” Charlie said, somewhat bitterly. “But I’m still sore.”

Mac tilted his head.

“I can still give you that backrub, if you want…?”

Charlie stared at him a moment longer before quietly nodding his agreement. Mac nodded back at him and gingerly resumed his earlier position straddling Charlie’s waist.

The muscles in Charlie’s back were even harder and more knotted than usual, Mac noted, as he began softly massaging Charlie. Charlie occasionally hissed or groaned when Mac’s hands found a particularly sore or sensitive spot, but Mac could feel Charlie relaxing beneath him, telling him that his work was appreciated. Mac smiled, watching the rise and fall of Charlie’s freckled shoulders slow down as Charlie started to doze off.

Only ten minutes after he’d started, Charlie was asleep. His job done, Mac again slid off of his back and rejoined Charlie under the covers, still careful not to move or disturb Charlie from his position. He was, after all, shirtless and without his binder, and Mac knew how Charlie felt about that. So instead of pulling Charlie over into his arms, as he would on any other night, Mac leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Charlie’s nose.

“Good night, buddy,” Mac murmured. Then he rolled over to face away from Charlie, closing his eyes for good measure.


End file.
